Flying Planes Video Project

Recently I got the opportunity to work on a project which involved filming and editing a short video for aeronautical engineering students in UL. The aeronautical engineers made planes which they flew around on the UL grounds. My friend Adam and I filmed the whole flying session and I edited the video.

 There were two groups and two planes, it was a very interesting project and I'm very happy that I got the opportunity to produce a short video of the event. I edited the footage in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, I found CS6 to be very quick and efficient. It was a very good learning experience and helped me gain more knowledge in the field of film production and editing. The video is titled "Flight" and can be found here:

Short 3D Film

For my final year project I decided to study stereoscopic 3D. I wanted to gain a better understanding of it and how it could be used effectively to enhance the viewing experience for the viewer. Many films use 3D as a mere "gimmick" to attract audience and to make extra money at the box office. People are growing tired of paying extra for 3D when the 3D doesn't add anything special to the film itself. There are directors such as; Peter Jackson, Martin Scorsese, Henry Selick who are trying to experiment with stereoscopic 3D and using it as a tool to enhance the storytelling aspect of films.

This is what I have tried to achieve in the short film I produced.
The close up scenes of the protagonist are more effective and create a greater emotional charge when viewed in 3D. I tried to make a short film using 3D so that the viewer would feel more connected to the lead actor. Throughout the filming process I tried my best to not break the "personal space" between the viewer and the protagonist. The actor is never directly in the audience's face. In the nature scenes I focused on using the depth aspect of the 3D to make the images more interesting and more immersive for the viewer. Overall it was a great opportunity to work with stereoscopic 3D and it was a great learning experience. I used to see 3D as a "gimmick" before working on this project, but now I feel that if 3D is used correctly then it can really benefit and enhance the storytelling in films and could be a permanent storytelling tool like colour and sound.


Below you can watch the non-3D and 3D versions of the short film I wrote, directed and edited.


non-3D:





3D:

KADM - Business plan

We formed a group of four people for this project. The project involved the group to think of ideas for businesses and then pick one and develop on it. We sat down together and had a brainstorming session, here we thought up of different business ideas. We thought about developing our business around app development for mobile devices, setting up a multimedia company, virtual company, specialized in obtaining clients and co-operating with freelancers, multimedia training providers for the disadvantaged and unemployed and our last business concept was 3D augmented reality for education; applications and providing customized and adequate materials. After discussing these business ideas we picked two of the best business ideas and we created a SWOT analysis on both. We chose app development and multimedia company as the two best ideas. After a SWOT analysis of both ideas we decided that we will work on the second option; setting up the multimedia company. We saw great potential in the multimedia company which would provide various different media services such as; advertisements, graphic designs, photography and video services to our clients. We also thought that if the multimedia company expands and grows then we can also implement app designing in the company as a department.

Once we picked the business idea we split the business into four different departments which consisted of web development, video production/digital photography/digital audio, interactive advertisement and graphic design. Then we decided on who has the skills to be head of each department. My skills in photoshop, illustrator, flash and photoscape were the reasons I was chosen as the head of the graphic design department. My role involved me designing logos', business cards, website layouts, flash banner advertisements and various different designs. As a group we held a meeting and we discussed the companies business plan and we estimated our expenses and incomes and also discussed on the customers we would appeal to. Overall it was a very creative process involving us to think outside the box and think of innovative and intellectual ideas.

Click here to read the executive summary and business plan.

Instagram - photography community

Instagram is an app developed for the iphone. It allows the user to take photos wherever they go and share them with other instagram users. It also offers the user the opportunity to follow friends’ photo updates as they go through their daily life. The app provides filters which can be added to photos, which makes the photos look even more interesting. These filters provide very beautiful effects and really make the photos look like a work of art. There is no limit on how many photos a user can add to instagram. They can search for their friends and follow those friends who are also using who are also using the instagram app. The user can follow anyone on instagram, if the user finds a person who adds interesting, stunning photos, the user just has to click “follow” and now whenever that person uploads photos, they will appear on the users home page, dashboard. Instagram allows the user to like other users’ photos and lets the user add comments on it. There is a section on instagram called “popular”. In this section, the most liked photos can be found. This is a quick way of finding stunning, beautiful images uploaded by users. Not only can the user share his/her photos on instagram but the user can also connect their instagram to facebook or twitter account, so once the user uploads their photos on instagram, the user gets the option to share them on facebook and twitter. Continue reading by clicking the link https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4pMdh-snp23YWVjMTY0OGQtYzY3Mi00N2UxLWIyOTItYjhhZTBkZGYwZTM0

Snapshots of some of my work on instagram:

i-phone app concept

In second year of college, we had to come up with a new business idea. We formed a group of four and we started brainstorming and in the end we came up with an i-phone app concept. The concept we wanted to develop was an I-phone app. It would provide the users maps and would also give the users a full 360 degree panoramic view of the location they are at. Our target market was hikers. Hikers face difficult weather conditions such as white outs/blackouts and it makes it almost impossible to see what is in front of them. Mountains can be very dangerous and one wrong step could be life threatening. But with the introduction of our I-phone app, the hiker will know exactly what to expect every step of the way. They will get a full 360 degree panoramic image of where they are. A compass is also built in so the user knows which direction they are heading towards. If the user wants a tough route the app would calculate a tough hiking route and if the user wants an easy route the app would guide them through an easy route (if any available). If the user is close to a danger zone (edge of a cliff for example) the app would show a warning message, which would inform the user of the danger zone ahead. There would have also be an option for the user to read about the historical background about the locations they were at (if any historical background exists in that area). It would have made a good learning experience for the user. This app could be used by anyone not just hikers. So if you’re a new student, you can use it to find your way around campus. This app can work, we know this as we have tried to create a prototypes of this concept. We created hotspots on google maps using google api, and also we generated our own 360 degree panoramic images of a few locations on UL campus.

Working with photoshop and flash

During my coop I was offered the opportunity by DR.Luigina Ciolfi (work colleague) to be involved in preparing a piece which was going to represent the Interaction Design Centre in an art exhibition in Cork “Boundary Work I”

I had to create a poster. I designed the poster using text which DR.Luigina Ciolfi had sent me and I also added images which I received from Anders Sigfridsson(work colleague), I created the layout and design of the poster with James(work colleague).



After creating the poster, I had to put two flash files together. This was a tough task for me as I had no previous experience with flash. However, I looked at this as an opportunity to gain new knowledge and saw this as a new learning experience. I began researching about flash and I started watching video tutorials online about flash.

I read more about flash online and tried doing a few exercises from the tutorials to practice some flash. After quite a few days I had learned the basics of flash which was a great help. I started putting the two flash files together, however I had great difficulties with it as I found the action script coding tough to understand and write. I slowly put the flash files together little by little, piece by piece and it all started coming together. I found working with flash the most difficult task during the work placement however, it was a great learning experience. It gave me an opportunity to learn how flash works, it was a program which I had never used before. So by the end of this task I had learnt how to use the basics of a new program.

Organizing TWEAK

During the time I was on coop, I got many opportunities to work on various different projects. Tweak was a very interesting project. When I first began my placement I was given the chance to work on a project called “Tweak”. Throughout the course of this project I was given many different responsibilities. My first task/responsibility for the project was to design an ident for Tweak in Adobe After Effects. After completing this I was given the responsibility to collect arduinos and cables from the CSIS building. These were important for the designers at the Tweak workshop.

Then I had to go into the city centre to collect the Tweak posters and then I had to stick them around the city on the windows of various shops, pubs, art college etc. I had to ask for permission in order to stick the posters up in any of the places. This was to promote the Tweak festival, to raise awareness to people in the city so they knew about it. I also handed out programs/leaflets and placed them in shops, pubs. These programs outlined what was to be expected at the Tweak festival. I was responsible for getting together and organizing all the materials which the designers needed to help them create their designs. Materials such as crocodile clips, cables, wires, arduinos. They all had to be organized so that the designers could locate them easily and use them as they needed them.

The Tweak exhibition needed to be set up in the hall in the art college in Limerick. I helped set up and position the computers according to Nora (who organizes the Tweak festival). Setting up the exhibition took hours, however it was very important to set everything up correctly and to make sure everything was working properly. On the opening night of the exhibition, I was responsible for the refreshments. I made sure that everyone at the exhibition was served refreshments. After a successful opening night of the exhibition, the Tweak exhibition stayed open for another four days.

During these four days it was my responsibility to make sure that the designs were turned on at 9.30am, after turning on all the different designs, I had to look after the exhibition and if any visitors had questions about any of the designs I had to answer them and explain it to them, and at 1.30pm my class mate took over until 5pm, he then had to turn all the designs off and shut them down. The Tweak festival was a success and after it ended it was my responsibility to help pack up all the designs, computers and packing up all the other equipment such as cables etc.